


Unresolved

by HarlequinSky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Harry Potter Epilogue Compliant, Harry Potter Next Generation, M/M, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Post-Canon, Roommates, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25254712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarlequinSky/pseuds/HarlequinSky
Summary: What if, after all this time, it had always been him?
Relationships: Past Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley - Relationship, Scorpius Malfoy & Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	Unresolved

**Seventh Year**

Scorpius smiled, his hand in Rose's while she laughed at a joke Albus had made. They’d piled into the Three Broomsticks with the rest of the Hogwarts population to avoid the unrelenting cold, but fortunately had managed to find an unoccupied table near the back. 

As Rosmerta placed three piping hot mugs of butterbeer on their table, Rose nudged Scorpius. Go on, she mouthed, subtly nodding her head towards an oblivious Albus. 

Scorpius groaned inwardly. Albus had been dating Thalia Newport lately, but Rose had her reservations about their relationship despite sharing a dorm in Gryffindor tower with the girl. Scorpius didn’t want to bring the matter up, especially since it was their last Hogsmeade weekend before the Christmas holidays, but Rose had insisted they try. “You’re his best friend, talk some sense into him!” she’d scolded when he protested.

“So,” he began, not really sounding as nonchalant as he’d hoped. “How are things with Thalia?"

Albus stiffened slightly, before schooling his features. He paused to take a rather long swig of his butterbeer before answering. “Things are… fine.”

Rose frowned, evidently unconvinced. Scorpius shot her a warning look—don’t start don’t start don’t start—but she ignored him. Putting her mug down firmly, she eyed her cousin like he was an Arithmancy problem she couldn’t solve. “I just don’t know what you see in her, Al.”

Albus let out a laugh, but it sounded slightly forced. Scorpius stayed silent, watching him over his mug of butterbeer. 

“Come on, Rosie—”

“Albus, she basically told the entire dorm that she wasn’t that into you.”

Albus didn’t respond. 

“I’m pretty sure she’s just with you because of Uncle Harry—”

Scorpius’ eyes widened. “Rose!” 

“I’m just telling him the truth! Al, we’re just worried—”

“It’s _fine_ ,” Albus interrupted, shooting his best friend and cousin a smile. “Fine and dandy. Nothing to worry about.” 

Rose opened her mouth to say something else, but Scorpius gave her hand a quick squeeze and shook his head. Relenting, she pursed her lips instead. Meanwhile, Albus had taken to studying the group of third-years two tables away who’d chosen that exact moment to burst into laughter. 

“Al,” Scorpius began, treading carefully. “We’re not saying you should break up with her. We just don’t want you to get hurt. Just tell us... tell us if you ever need ice cream, okay?”

At that, Albus couldn’t help but snort, while Rose rolled her eyes. “Yeah,” Albus smiled, relaxing into his chair. “Sure.”

A week later, Scorpius couldn’t say he was entirely surprised when a snowy owl landed on the windowsill of his bedroom at Malfoy Manor, the Potter family crest dangling off a charm on its right foot. Handing the owl a treat, he accepted the hastily folded parchment from its beak, raising an eyebrow at the lack of an envelope. Absently petting the owl with one hand while he flipped open the parchment with the other, his eyes widened as he scanned the messier-than-usual scrawl of his best friend.

_**Scorp, I need ice cream.** _

* * *

**Four Years Later**

“I’m glad you’re finally back,” Rose smiled, lacing her fingers through his as they made their way through a park. 

Scorpius smiled back, but remained silent. They’d just had dinner, but he felt like he was going to be sick. Taking a seat on a nearby bench, he tried not to freeze as she leaned on his shoulder and sighed—this was a rare calm moment in their hectic lives. Between her job as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries and his various night shifts at the Daily Prophet, they hadn’t seen much of each other in the past few years. Things hadn’t felt quite the same in a while. At first, they’d fought a lot, absences blamed on work and stress. Raised voices dissolved into angry tears, but eventually even the tears had run out. 

When they’d moved in together after Hogwarts, it’d seemed like the natural thing to do at the time. She was his first, and so was he hers. They’d settled, but he hadn’t realised it until he left London for the first time and took a four-month stint as the Daily Prophet's American Correspondent. It was only when he sat alone, in his temporary, too-small New York City apartment that he’d finally felt free in a long time. How long had it been, since he’d felt this way?

And now he was back. 

Four months, and they’d barely bothered to owl each other. He used to send her letters every week on summer break, written daily and bundled together with silver ribbon and a red rose, freshly plucked from the garden at Malfoy Manor. They used to effortlessly fill rolls of parchment until their inkwells ran dry. 

When on earth had it all gone horribly wrong?

He had to tell her tonight, he’d decided. He owed her this much. 

It had already been way too long. 

Rose seemed to notice his discomfort, and looked at him questioningly. He let his hand slip away from hers as her eyes searched his face. 

“Rose, we…” he swallowed. “We need to talk.”

Her face fell. “No, you can’t be serious.”

“I…”

In the many years that he’d known her, he’d never once seen Rose Weasley cry. She didn’t cry when she failed a particularly hard Ancient Runes exam in Third Year—the first exam she’d ever failed. She didn’t cry when a rogue bludger dislocated her arm during a Quidditch friendly in Sixth Year, and they had to rush her off to the hospital wing. She didn’t even cry when when the family cat she’d grown up with, Crookshanks, finally passed away two years ago. 

He willed himself to look at her. Even in the darkness, he could see tears threatening to spill from her eyes. 

“I’m sorry, Rose,” he said quietly. “I can’t do this anymore.”

He’d expected her to yell, to scream, to curse; to hex him into oblivion for wasting her time, after all these years. What he didn’t expect was for her to stand up wordlessly and take no more than five steps before apparating away. 

Perhaps the reason why he’d never once seen Rose Weasley cry, was because she’d never let him.

He should’ve followed her to make sure she was safe, but he doubted that it would do either of them any good. She’d probably gone back to her parents', and as much as they’d warmed up to him over the years, the two war heroes—one of whom was the current Minister for Magic—probably wouldn’t be so happy to see him now. 

Taking a deep but shaky breath, he stood up and turned on the spot, apparating home to their apartment. Well, _her_ apartment now. He quickly gathered the rest of his things—it wasn’t like he’d had the time to unpack much, anyway—and turned on the spot again. 

He hadn’t really been thinking straight when he apparated; instinct had brought him to 13 Blyton Street. He approached the front door of the building, but paused mid-knock. She’s his cousin, it wouldn’t be fair to put him in a spot like this, he should leave—

Before he could act, the door cracked open.

“Who’s there?” Surprised green eyes met his own. “Wha— _Scorpius_?"

“Hi,” Scorpius forced a smile. 

Albus swung the door open, scooping his friend into a hug. "I didn’t even know you were back! When did you arrive? Wait, what’s with all your stuff?”

“I… Rose…” Scorpius couldn’t bring himself to look Albus in the eye, fiddling with the handles on his duffle bag. “We…” 

“Oh,” Albus realised, the grin slipping off his face. “Come on in then, I reckon I’ve still got a tub of Fortescue’s Finest in the fridge.”

* * *

Albus helped him get his things inside with a quick wave of his wand, while Scorpius sank into the nearest chair. 

“Here,” Albus said, placing a bowl of ice cream on the table in front of him. “It’s Valrhona dark chocolate, one of their new gourmet flavours. It’s pretty good, mum’s banned dad from having any because he’s got zero restraint.”

“Thanks.”

“So,” Albus began. “You and Rose, huh.” 

Scorpius nodded. “We… we broke up.” 

Albus hummed, taking a spoonful of ice cream. “I’m sorry to hear that. How are you feeling?”

How did he feel? Sad, for sure—she’d been a part of his life for so long after all, and it had been nice to have someone who was always in your corner. But he didn’t regret it. Yes, they had good times, but this was the end of an era. They were clinging onto their glory days out of nostalgia and obligation, where words and gestures were more perfunctory than heartfelt. It was far from healthy. Yet, at the end of the day, he hated that he had to be the one to do it. Rose was loyal to a fault; she would’ve held on to his hand until the very end, despite how unhappy they had gotten. And thinking about how he had just gone and broken her heart made him feel...

“Guilty,” he admitted. 

An awkward silence settled between them; Scorpius swirling his rapidly melting ice cream while Albus grasped internally for the right words to comfort his friend.

“Look,” Scorpius said. “I know she’s your cousin—”

“Scorp,” Albus interrupted, shaking his head. “We’ve been friends since First Year. We’re _still_ friends. Nothing has changed.” 

Scorpius couldn’t help but smile as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck; he felt like a heavy weight had finally been lifted off his chest. “Thanks, Al.” 

Suddenly, the fire in Albus’ apartment roared green, and someone tumbled onto the living room rug. 

“Holy shit, Al, you’ll never believe what happened!” James half-yelled, scrambling to his feet and sprinkling ash all over, much to Albus’ chagrin. “Have you heard from Scorpius? Uncle Ron’s absolutely _livid_ —mum literally had to restrain him before he got an aneurysm—”

“ _James_."

“Oh,” James stopped, finally noticing Scorpius at the dining table, resolutely staring at the barely-touched bowl of ice cream in front of him. “Hiya Scorp. What’s… up?”

Scorpius rose to his feet. “I should go.” 

“No, you shouldn’t—”

“Hey now, don’t mind me,” James backtracked, hands up in surrender. “I’m just dropping in on my little brother, not about to beat you up. Besides, you’ve got enough people after you now—” 

“James!”

“She put him in a full body-bind, Al, a _full body-bind_ —”

“ _Enough_ , James,” Albus warned, thrusting a hastily-scooped bowl of ice cream in front of his brother—hopefully that would be enough to get him to shut up. “Scorpius is having a hard enough time as it is.”

“Hey, don’t worry man, I don’t think anyone really blames you,” James reassured, patting Scorpius kindly on the shoulder. "We’ve kinda always known that Rose is a little batty; honestly, I don’t even know how you put up with her all these years. Aunt Mione’s been saying that she hadn’t mentioned you in weeks, she was starting to wonder if you guys were still together—”

“James Sirius Potter, don’t make me throw you out—”

“It’s fine, Al,” Scopius grimaced. “I’m sorry I caused this mess.”

“Don’t be,” Albus scolded, resolute. “It’s not a big deal, they’ll get over it. Have you told your dad?” 

Scorpius shook his head. “He’s still in France on business. I haven’t spoken to him since I’ve gotten back.”

“Mum sent him a patronus, I think,” James supplied helpfully, in between mouthfuls of ice cream. 

Sure enough, two sharp pecks brought their attention to a tired-looking eagle owl outside the kitchen window, which hooted rather haughtily when Albus finally let it in. “Here,” he said, handing the letter over to Scorpius, who raised an eyebrow at his father’s unmistakeable handwriting. “How on earth did he know?” 

“Not gonna lie, you’re pretty predictable, mate,” James snorted, ignoring a glare from Albus. 

Wordlessly opening the envelope, Scorpius scanned the letter quickly while Albus chased his brother out of the apartment and into the fireplace. 

_**Scorpius,** _

_**Heard the news from Ginny Potter—is it true? Are you alright?** _

_**I’ll be home in two weeks, let me know if you need a place to stay.** _

_**Love,** _

_**Dad** _

“So?” Albus asked, curious, as he sent the dirty dishes into the sink with a wave of his wand. 

“It’s fine, I’ll write him tomorrow,” Scorpius replied, tucking the letter into his jeans pocket. His gaze fell on his bags, and he sighed. “I guess I should get going, might be hard to get a room at the Leaky now—“

“Don’t be an idiot, you’re not going to be able to find a room this late at night,” Albus scoffed. “Besides, I haven’t gotten much use out of the spare room since James moved out to go live with his girlfriend, you can stay with me in the meantime.” 

Scorpius blinked in surprise. “Are you sure?"

“Yeah, why not?” Albus grinned. “It’ll be just like old times, right?"

At that, Scorpius couldn’t help but return his smile.

“Yeah, just like old times.” 


End file.
